Vietnam Veteran shares experiences with students

Above, from left, are Justin Benson, holding Gleason’s uniform; Hunter Baum, holding a picture of Gleason’s battalion; and Patrick T. Gleason. Below, Gleason shows the students his uniform and shared some of his experiences during Vietnam.

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BROOKFIELD

Vietnam veteran Patrick T. Gleason shared his story with eighth-grade students at Brookfield Middle School, just in time for Veterans Day. He works as a substitute teacher at local schools and was willing to spend some extra time with the students.

Gleason served from 1966-70 in the 82nd Airborne in Fort Bragg, N.C., and spent one of those years, January 1968 to January 1969, serving in Vietnam. Melanie Horn and Miriam Necastro, eighth-grade teachers, are reading the novel “Inside Out and Back Again” by Thanhha Lai in their English Language Arts classes, which follows the journey of a South Vietnamese family who become refugees as Saigon falls April 30, 1975.

Gleason provided first-hand accounts of his experiences during the year in Vietnam and shared photos of his battalion and his uniform.